Microsoft Teams, a chat and communication tool used by businesses, is currently experiencing connection issues. Some users have reported they are no longer able to connect to the service.
The breakdown comes after Microsoft announced that it had made modifications to some aspect of Teams to handle the surge of users.
Although Microsoft has not released a statement, the breakdown on Monday appears to have been caused by the number of connected users reaching an all-time high.
Over 12 million new users
Following the adoption of remote work by many businesses due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Microsoft Teams has seen a massive increase in usage.
In the first week of March, Microsoft Teams usage increased by 12 million. This caused the service to initially suffer some outages which was promptly resolved.
However, with the number of Covid-19 infections still rising in many countries forcing more countries to adopt lockdown procedure, the number of companies opting for Microsoft teams for efficient remote work will continue to increase.
Microsoft Team has over 44 million active users every day
Microsoft modifies Microsoft Cloud and Microsoft Teams services
During the weekend, Microsoft announced modifications to the services of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Cloud after it experienced a high surge in usage.
Microsoft Cloud has seen a 775% increase of cloud services in lockdown regions
To cater for the increase in usage, Microsoft effected moderations of its cloud services. It added that it will prioritize cloud access to keep Microsoft Teams up and running and also for first responders and emergency services.
Microsoft has also announced that it has temporarily adjusted some aspects of Teams to improve overall capacity and reliability.
“We made a few temporary adjustments to select non-essential capabilities such as how often we check for user presence, the interval in which we show when the other party is typing, and video resolution.”
However, with the outages occurring even after modifications, more work is required if such breakdown is to be avoided, especially since the number of users is expected to rise even more.
As Lagos joins the league of cities under lockdown, many businesses who hadn’t adopted remote work earlier will be forced to. Software solutions like Microsoft Teams provide a platform for businesses to chat and communicate.
The good news is that the outages seem to be rather limited to Europe so we should be able to use the service without hiccups in Africa.
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